24 December 2014

Curfew in India state after rebels kill 63

Hundreds of survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of ethnic violence.

Long-simmering land and ethnic disputes in Assam state erupted in bloodshed Tuesday when authorities said rebels belonging to a faction of an indigenous separatist group called the National Democratic Front of Bodoland attacked tribal settlers known as Adivasi. Most of the Adivasis, whose ancestors migrated to Assam more than 100 years ago, have worked on tea plantations.

At least 100 people, mostly women and children, sought refuge in a church in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district, where 26 of the victims died. Another 200 people ran to a nearby school. The Adivasis are a mix of Hindus and Christians and many had been preparing for Christmas when the attack took place, survivors said.

Bodo rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for their indigenous tribe, which makes up 10 percent of Assam's 33 million people. They have staged attacks against both Adivasi and Muslim settlers in violence that has left at 10,000 people dead, most of them civilians, in the last three decades. In May, the same rebels group shot and killed more than 30 Muslims.

Many of the dead in Tuesday's attacks included women and children, police said. The rebels may have been provoked by heavy losses they suffered recently as police intensified operations against the group, Singh said.

"We are trying to ensure that ethnic violence does not flare up," he said, adding that a curfew was imposed in two districts and police and paramilitary forces patrolled the area.

There were concerns the violence could spill over.

Following the attacks, angry Adivasis surrounded a police station in Sonitpur and attempted to attack the officers inside, said S.N. Singh, a top police official. Police opened fire, killing three Adivasis, he said.

He also said there were incidents of Bodo homes being attacked, but troops managed to control the situation.

Dozens of rebel groups have been fighting the government and sometimes each other for years in seven states in northeast India. They demand greater regional autonomy or independent homelands for the indigenous groups they represent.

The rebels accuse the federal government of exploiting the region's rich mineral resources but neglecting the local people.

(AP)

Indian tribal settlers take refuge in a local school after their village
was attacked by an indigenous separatist group called the National
Democratic Front of Bodoland, in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district
of Indian eastern state of Assam, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Hundreds of
survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in
northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while
security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of
ethnic violence.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014 photo, an injured woman and her child are
carried in an ambulance to a local hospital in Sonitpur district in
India’s northeast state of Assam, India. Long-simmering land and ethnic
disputes erupted in bloodshed in northeastern India when rebels launched
coordinated attacks on tribal settlers in Assam state, killing more
than 50 people, officials said Wednesday.

An Indian tribal woman with her child and bow and arrows arrives at a
make shift relief center in a local school after her village was
attacked by an indigenous separatist group called the National
Democratic Front of Bodoland, in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district
of Indian eastern state of Assam, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Hundreds of
survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in
northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while
security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of
ethnic violence.

An Indian tribal woman with her luggage on a bicycle moves to a relief
shelter after her village was attacked by an indigenous separatist group
called the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, in Shamukjuli village
in Sonitpur district of Indian eastern state of Assam, Wednesday, Dec.
24, 2014. Hundreds of survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at
least 63 people in northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a
church and school while security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to
contain the latest bout of ethnic violence.

Indian policemen stand guard as an Indian tribal girl leaves for a
relief shelter after her village was attacked by an indigenous
separatist group, in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district of Indian
eastern state of Assam, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Hundreds of survivors
of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in northeastern
India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while security
forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of ethnic
violence.